Bat in the Belfry
by PeterPandaBear
Summary: Bette Kane is getting a little crazy; Barbara Gordon is starting to get jells; Dick Grayson is ready to evolve past a songbird and Artemis is ready to move on. Takes place between Time-jump
1. Intro

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice. _I can't believe I had to type that._**

_Gotham Academy schooled many students, two were heroes, two would become heroes._

It was a Monday morning; the academy's resident best friends were standing side-by-side in comfortable silence. Barbara looked over at her companion. Dick was starring, eyes narrowed in concentration. She followed his gaze.

On the second story of a building across the way, a couple of self-proclaimed theater geeks were caring what Barbara assumed to be a huge prop. The two were straining under the weight. Slightly behind them, a few jocks were running and play wrestling. Directly below the scene was Bette Kane, too involved with her cell phone to notice the coming disaster.

"Dick…" she started, but when she looked over he was already gone. She turned her head back to the unfolding scene, just in time for the jocks to run into the geeks sending the prop hurtling over the railing, strait for Bette. She saw Dick dive at Bette and send her falling backwards into the grass. As the prop shattered, his back acted like a shield.

After the shock wore off, Bette started failing her limbs, she pushed him off and he landed with a soft thud in the grass. She started yelling at him fiercely, and then her eyes came to the crash site.

She abruptly stopped talking. With a quick glance at Dick, who was lying shell-shocked in the grass, she pursed her lips and walked away with the little dignity she had left.

A crowd had gathered around the scene, dead slight. They parted to let Bette out, and closed up again. As Dick brought himself up, the crowd started clapping. He wiped his hand on his shirt and looked around. A smile slowly crept onto his face. Barbara pierced through the crowd and hugged him tightly. Other people came forward to pat him on the back.

Watching away from the commotion, a young archer pondered on what she thought was a young boy stepping up to the plate and becoming a hero. He made her think of why she wanted to be a hero in the first place, although, it would probably be the only time he would ever get the chance to save the day…

The 'hero' walked by her. She put her hand on his shoulder.

"Hey" she said to him. He raised an eyebrow in amusement. "You could give Robin a run for his money" The boy could barely keep his laughter under control.

"Thanks," he managed to choke out.

"Why is that funny," Barbara harshly whispered as they walked away. Dick just shook his head and run to home room, Barbara close at his heels.

**Please Review, I rely on feedback. :P  
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**...and it's good motivation for faster chapters...  
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**reciprocity _(bribery) _is very effective. :)  
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	2. Bette

**Thanks to Cosmic-Surge and shipperlover for boosting my self-esteem.**

**Disclaimer: You can't seriously believe I own this stuff**

_I almost died yesterday._

Bette Kane woke up with a jolt. She had a dream about that boy, the one who saved her.

"_He's a freshman, ignore him," _she let out a laugh. The boy she cared least about had just saved her life. She looked around the rather large bedroom that she had been staying in. The closet was huge and pink, which was good because it matched the carpet. Bette had never been accused of being a tom boy. She slowly crawled out of her king-sized bed and tucked back in her green sheets.

Downstairs, her aunt was fixing her lunch.

"You're gonna have to start doing this yourself, kiddo" she chuckled.

Bette sat down on her stool and grabbed the milk.

"When are you leaving?" She asked while unscrewing the cap. Her aunt instinctively brought her hands to her dog tags.

"…Next week"

"Oh"

They fell silent for a while; Bette fingered away at a bowl of cereal. Aunty Kathy picked up a remote and turned on the morning news. The perky news caster's face appeared.

"Heroes: Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqua Lad are in Gotham fighting what looks to be a giant robot! Let's see if we can get a closer look-" Kathy pushed mute.

"Heroes" she scoffed. Her eyes traveled to the photo of her brother, Bette's father, in his Army uniform.

Bette looked on at the TV. Close-up footage of Robin was featured. Her eyes kept staring she watched him do acrobatic leaps, crazy kicks, throw explosives…_Robin. _

Bette was sitting in English when she saw a disgruntled ninth grader run by the window in the shrubbery. Her hand shot up.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" she asked. Her teacher nodded in approval and Bette went out the door.

She broke into a jog, following where she thought the boy went.

_That was Dick Grayson… _she thought _…he saved my life._

She came to a dead stop when she rounded a corner and saw his back. With a squeak, she jumped back behind a wall. He looked around and shrugged.

Bette squeezed her eyes shut and counted to ten. Slowly, she peaked around the corner, but he was gone. She breathed out a sigh of relief… _I don't know what came over me. _She turned to go back to school and gasped.

"Why are you following me?"

He was standing in front of her… _talking _to her. Robin. She looked at his mask, yearning to know what was beneath it.

"Well?"

"I…"

He shook his head and shot something at a building. A line was in his hand and he shot upward, way from her. A moment of shock resonated and then she decided to follow him. She took two steps and then an arrow buzzed by her ear.

She looked up and saw the hero, Artemis, standing on top of a nearby building.

She gulped.

But as the archer left, a strange feeling overcame Bette. She looked at the palms of her hands, the lines were glowing a light blue, but this didn't bother her. She knew where she was going. She walked strait foreword, calmly. Soon she came to an ally, and stepped into a photo booth.

A scanner came over her, and said something or other, she didn't quite catch it. But it was clear nothing more was going to happen.

She closed her eyes for a second, took a deep breath in, and went to work.

**Please Review, as you can see, I'm straying a bit room the traditional origin story. Tell me what you think.**


	3. Barbara

**Disclaimer: I do not, and probably never will, own Young Justice. **

Barbara watched in disgust as the sludge plopped loudly on her plate. You'd think such an expensive school they'd have better lunches. She held her tray with dignity and walked calmly toward her best friend.

"Hey Babs" he greeted her, taking a bite of his sandwich from home.

"Hey" she looked down at her slop and back up to his sandwich, mouthwatering. He noticed.

"Oh, I see." He smiled, held the food in front of her and started waving it back and forth. "Does Babs want some good food?" He pulled his hand away quickly, just as she made a grab for it. Strong laugher rolled from his mouth.

"Shut up, Dick" she said, punching him lightly from across the table. He pulled out a second sandwich and put on a fake pout.

"Well now you don't get one" he said childishly.

"_Please…_"

"Maybe…I'm still not so sure,"'

"Give it Grayson" she snapped.

He tossed the lunch to her and raised his hands in defense.

Barbara smirked as she picked up the sandwich. Something behind her caught her eye.

"Don't look now, but I think Bette Kane is staring at you," He made a point of turning around and she quickly smacked his shoulder. "I told you not to look!"

He laughed.

"Bette? I know…she's been doing that…for a while now." He gave a weak smile that basically said 'What can you do?' and continued eating.

She felt a sting of jealousy for some strange reason.

"Well, Mr. Detective," she said, trying to control the venom in her voice, "Do you know why?"

He shrugged, oblivious to her change in attitude.

Bette made eye contact and left the lunchroom, seeming terrified. Barbara stood up, watching her.

"I'll see you at soccer practice, okay?" She said quickly.

"Okay,"

She quickly followed suit of Bette, intercepting her in the hallway. Bette stopped abruptly, finding her path blocked by a fiery red-head.

"What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing" Barbara shot back.

The two stood still for a moment, letting the situation sink in.

"What are you talking about?"

"Dick," Barbara retorted, "Why are you following him?" Bette suddenly felt all confidence leave her. She fluttered and blushed and finally managed to spit out a:

"I'm not,"

"Oh, you so are," Bette didn't reply. "Is this about him saving your life? Bette, that was _two weeks ago! _You need to get over it!"

"Get over it? If you had been saved from a burning building by Batman or Robin, would you get over it?"

"It wasn't a burning building" Barbara said sternly, hardly. "And Isn't Robin!"

Bette gave her a cold stare and a short laugh.

"My aunt just left for Iraq" she started, "We already lost my father over there…You can say I have a hero complex…"

Barbara's face softened, she patted Bette's shoulder. She sighed and figured she needed to say something, too.

"I'm sorry. I guess I got a little jealous. I didn't think you even knew his name before…"

"I didn't," She admitted, "but lately, I've been able to just _know _stuff, ya know? I've gotten really good at mechanics."

"Oh?" They gave each other one last look and walked past, already pretending the odd conversation never happened.

Soccer practice couldn't come soon enough for Barbara. She went out on the field in her yellow shorts and blue shirt, hair back in a ponytail, feeling strangely free. The first thing she saw was Dick waving- and then she saw his shorts. Dick was wearing yellow short-shorts that were not suitable for guys.

"What's with the shorts?" she asked, stifling a laugh. He suddenly looked down and covered himself with his hands.

"I think these might be yours," he said with an embarrassed smile. "But I think they work on me!" He shot his best super-hero pose and the two friends burst out laughing.

"Dick," Barbara started between laughs, "the last thing Gotham needs is you running around the city in those!" Dick's smile grew larger and the two joined the rest of their team in the center field.

When playing soccer, Dick and Barbara were always in perfect sync. The two did acrobatic tricks off of each other, made brilliant strategies without speaking, and had an uncanny accuracy when passing to each other. It was almost like they were made to be a team. The would have been the soccer team's secret weapon, expect, Dick barley ever showed up for games; there was always some 'emergency' that came up.

"I feel like Bette's been stalking me" Dick said softly.

"How?" Barbara asked Dick asked kicked the ball upward. She grabbed his arm and used him as an anchor as she swung her legs into the air, kicking the ball into the goal. Dick used her momentum to spiral her back down. She landed, and the duo released each other.

"She's waiting in the hallway after every class; she's staring at me every minute."

The ball came towards them again, Dick cupped his hands and Barbara stepped on them and jumped as Dick jerked upward; she flipped backwards in the air and kicked the ball to the team captain.

"You should take it easy with the gymnastics Babs" Dick started "Just because you're not training for the Olympics' anymore, doesn't mean you should be taking unnecessary risks'."

"Risks?" Barbara replied in shock, "I know for a fact you could do all this stuff, too. Do you think Robin would give up acrobatics just because he could get hurt? Robin probably wouldn't give up his skills for anything. Life isn't life without a little risk." Dick stared at her silently. She wondered if he was going to take the risk, if he would kiss her. Instead, he turned away.

"Robin would give up _anything, _if it meant his best friend wouldn't get hurt.."

**Some fun facts for you: I didn't really like this chapter, funny enough, it was the first one I did so far, completely written on paper. The first chapter was also written on paper, but I rewrote it as I was typing, the second was completely typed, and this was scribed word-for-word out of my notebook. Tell me what method you think works.**


	4. Dick

**Disclaimer: I don't own this show!**

Days had passed since Bette had stopped following him, but Dick couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him. He carried his duffle bag into the locker room and changed, slipping into her usual jacket and sunglasses. He followed his usual route and arrived at his usual destination- an ally with an old photo booth machine that actually was a complex zeta tube system. Even though everything was the same, he felt as if something was strangely off. Instinctively, he laid his hand on the machine, felt it's rhythmic hum, nothing was noticeably wrong about it but something was…_different._

Different! Hah! If Babs was there she would…Dick stopped. No. Babs wasn't here, she would never be here. The only way she could be is if she masked herself as a vigilante. A new hero in Gotham? What would she be called? There was already a bat and a robin; they were running out of small flying creatures. Maybe a pigeon, or a flying squirrel… or a _Sparrow_. Dick thought about it. Barbara was in great shape, she had a detective's eye, and wasn't very squeamish. He wondered why he had never thought of this before.

"I'd have to ask Batman…" he mused.

"Ask Batman what?" a voice said from behind him. Dick turned around and saw the cowl of his mentor.

"Well…I, uh, I was wondering if I could train someone to be, uh… a new partner." He gave a large smile to add to the persuasiveness.

"No"

"But…"

"No"

Dick sighed and bowed his head in defeat.

"However," Batman started, "a new partner might not be a bad idea, a sub for when we're both off. Gotham needs a protector."

The young ward smiled. He was slightly worried about Bruce paying too much attention to a new person, but Dick knew Babs, she wouldn't hog the spotlight. Maybe the two could be their own duo: Robin and Sparrow, it had a nice ring to it.

They stepped into the photo booth one after the other.

An electronic voice announced their arrival and soon they found themselves in a familiar room where nothing was going on. They were met by the door with a blur and a blast of air brought on by a by Kid Flash in full costume with a turkey leg in his hand.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Do we have a new mission?" KF spat out excitedly, running frantically around the Caped Crusader. Artemis reached her hand inside the red-and-yellow ring around the Bat and pulled out an ear, dragging her boyfriend away.

"I'm only here to pick up Flash," Batman started, "There have been some mirror related incidents lately and I want to compare notes. It might be someone from your gallery."

Flash nodded, knowing who he was referring to and they left together learning Red Tornado in charge.

Dick took a seat next to Zatanna. The two sat in awkward silence for a little while. Then Zatanna started talking. The two were close, they had kissed, they liked each other, but unlike Wally and Artemis, a romantic relationship never bloomed between them. He knew he wanted one, but did she?

"I would, but Robin… I don't even know your real name."

"That's not fair. I can't help that."

"I know. Look… we're great together because we have fun. A relationship between might ruin that."

"It might," Robin started moving closer to her, "Or it might be amazing."

She was silent for time and the two drifted into each other,

"It's a 'yes' or 'no' question, Z. What do you think?" They were inches from each other, breathing in each other's breath, hands overlapping.

"Well, I guess I pick-"

She was cut off by the Zeta tubs opening and the two teen jumped apart. The computerized voice rand through the hall.

"Batgirl- 000"

Robin stood up. _Batgirl?_

A girl stumbled out of the portal into the room. Her costume was a red dress with a home-made green caped. It looked ridiculous. She got up, dusted her skirt and laughed.

"Hah! It worked!"

She suddenly looked around as if she finally noticed the people standing around her, gaping.

"Bette!" A shocked Boy Wonder exclaimed.

She faced him and gave a quick smile.

"Hey Dick!"

**Ah Cliffhanger! **

**So if you can't tell, I haven't quite made up my mind for who Robin should be with. What do you guys think?**

**Also, I have the story planned out, and I was thinking of making a story about Tim Drake that would take place after this one, but I would write it side-by-side with this one. What do you think?**

**And any comment about Bette you want. **


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